Nathan Joyce: Sharing the Harsh Realities of College Recruiting

Here’s a recruiting reality for you: 0.8 percent of high school athletes will earn a full-ride athletic scholarship.

That means you — or your son or daughter — isn’t getting one. Not a chance.

Where did I find this sunny news to share with you? I was at the Recruiting Realities presentation on Wednesday at South Kitsap High. Jack Renkens, who has been touring for 14 years warning parents about the rigors of college recruiting, was making his third appearance at SK.

Renkens, who has seen college recruiting from both sides of a letter of intent, likes to get in parents’ and players’ faces. He can be a bit abrasive, but he’ll tell you he abrades because he loves.

Renkens painted a picture that has played out in living rooms across the county. A prospective athlete checks his mail box and finds letters from colleges around the nation, extolling the virtues of their program.

Here’s what happens: That athlete makes piles. Schools he/she likes goes into one. Schools he/she haven’t heard of are often tossed. That’s where a mistake is often made.

One of Renkens’ laws state that athletes don’t pick the school, the school picks the athlete.

There’s always the exception. If you’re a superstar — such as Marvin Williams — you pick the school.

You are not a superstar.

But you want to still play college sports. The opportunity is out there. But are you willing to play in Iowa? North Dakota? Nebraska?

You are? Well, then Renkens has time for you. If not, he’ll tell you you’re not serious. Get lost.

Those smaller schools in far-flung locales are where the opportunities lie.

As Renkens will tell you: The goal is to get as much college education paid for as possible. And that doesn’t mean it has to come from an athletic scholarship. There are other ways (grants, academic awards, etc.), you just have to learn how to play the game.

And here’s another surprising tidbit. You know those college recruiting services on the Internet that charge upward of $3,000 to help your athlete find a place to play? You may have been warned about them by your athletic director or your coach?

Renkens will tell you to sign up. Yesterday.

How else, he reasons, is a coach in Colorado or Indiana going to learn the name of a baseball player in Port Orchard? And while a coach or AD may have his heart in the right place, they simply don’t have the ability to get that kids’ name out there.

It could be a $3,000 investment on a $100,000 education.

A word of caution. There are only a few legitimate services out there, and there are thousands that will waste your time and money. Shop carefully.

Coaches buy lists from those services. And some NAIA coach in East Redneck, Tenn., or Corncob, Iowa, may well contact your son.

And while it may not be his dream of playing for the Washington Huskies, it is a path to playing college ball and getting a business degree paid for.

Oh, and those promises of being a preferred walk-on? Forget them. Renkens preaches that if they don’t pay, you don’t play. Walk-ons get abused and broken hearted. Coaches don’t care about them; they have nothing invested. He said his inbox is full of sob stories.

And that, Renkens will tell you, is the reality of college recruiting.